1. Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention provides a computer-implemented method, system and program product for analyzing a collaborative space. Specifically the present invention allows collaborative spaces to be categorized based on interactivity metrics between the users thereof.
2. Related Art
As the use of the Internet and other computing networks become more pervasive, an increasing number of computer users are turning to network-based collaborative spaces to collaborate on projects/tasks. Typical examples of collaborative spaces include, among others, Internet newsgroups, Internet chat rooms, instant message exchanges and electronic mail exchanges. Such spaces have become so useful and prolific, that it is not unusual to see thousands or tens of thousands of collaborative spaces (e.g., Internet newsgroups, LOTUS NOTES or QUICKPLACE databases in a large company.
The basic problem is not finding a collaborative space, but finding a collaborative space that will support the style of interaction that a user or group of users is seeking. For example, a user might have a particular question for which he/she desires to receive a quick answer. However, certain collaborative spaces visited by the user might not lend themselves to a quick answer and question. For example, an Internet newsgroup could require the user to post the question and then wait hours or days for a response to be posted.
Heretofore, attempts have been provided to aid a user in locating collaborative spaces. Unfortunately, these attempts merely locate a collaborative space based on the content of the information contained therein. For example, if a user is attempting to locate a sports-related collaborative space, the existing systems (e.g., GOOGLE news group searching, or YAHOO groups) will provide a keyword search that allows the user to locate sports-related collaborative spaces. While content-based approaches can find collaborative spaces that are relevant to a topic, these approaches do not tell how well a given collaborative space will support a user's work. For example, if the user has a question about JAVA, it would not help for him/her to post your question in a collaborative space that is only used to store JAVA reference information. Rather, the user should post the question in a place where other users respond to questions.
In view of the foregoing, there exists a need for a computer-implemented method, system and program product for analyzing a collaborative space. Specifically, a need exists whereby the nature of collaborative spaces can be analyzed by measuring interactivity metrics between the users thereof. A further need exists for the collaborative spaces to be categorized based on the interactivity metrics. Still yet, a need exists for at least one of the categorized collaborative spaces to be recommended to a potential user based on a desired need of the potential user.